Impatience
by Artemis zodiac
Summary: Cheetara's back story: Orphaned one night for reasons she doesn't understand a young girl must make her way in a world full of dangers as she struggles to become something more. Set in the same world as my other story.
1. Chapter 1

Impatience

Chapter 1.

The knife missed the girl by a hair.

Half a hair in fact.

Even as she spun on her toes the girl felt the blade brush through her fur, an almost gentle feeling if the situation hadn't been so dire. The girl finished her spin, landing on all fours as the knife slammed into her bedroom wall. Without stopping the girl pushed off with all her cheetah speed and made for the door. She was fast, very fast, the fastest child in the village, she could outrun anything.

Except an adult cheetah.

The tom grabbed at the girl's neck, but although slower the girl was still quick, She let herself trip falling forward as the tom stumbled over her. As she fell the girl tucked into a ball and rolled, bounding to her feet as the man turn, eyeing the child. The girl took a step back but continued facing the tom, above all else she could not let him grab the back of her neck. A grab there paralyzed any cub or kitten. A grab their would render her powerless, helpless.

And by extension dead.

She breathed deeply as she took another step back, her mid-thigh length blood stained nightgown fluttering gently her barely teen body with the movement, as she looked for a way out. The tom blocked the stairway but the balcony? Her eyes flicked towards it, he wouldn't be able to stop her. The tom moved, the floorboards creaking under the force.

The girl jumped.

A short leap on to the banister before dropping to the floor below. The air caught her nightgown, though this wasn't the time to care about modesty. She landed, knelt and pushed off making for the front door. Once outside she could hide easily, once outside the danger lessened, one outside she could be sure of escape.

Her body went limp.

A paw grabbed her neck and her body responded as it all ways did, leaving her powerless. According to her parents, her eyes watered as she thought of them, the spot was placed there by the omens themselves, to ensure that parents could maintain easy control of their cubs and kittens both in times of danger, though most parents used it in times of discipline.

The guard lifted her up

Of course there had been a tom there. They may not have been professionals in killing a family, but something's was just common sense. Things such as having a guard downstairs to ensure no one got away. If the girl could move she would have kicked herself. If she had only waited she would have realized this. If she had only waited she would have heard the downstairs guard. If she had only waited, if she had only been patient, she might have survived.

But patience wasn't the girl's strong suit.

The stairs creaked as the other tom made his way down. The girl cast her mind, trying to think of a way out. Nothing came to mind. She couldn't move, she couldn't speck, she couldn't even tremble with fear. All she could do was hang limp as death approached.

She was going to die.

Their was no doubt in it, her parents were already dead killed her room as they tried to protect her, their blood staining her clothes, her fur, her heart. She wounded what they'd done, what she had done, to deserve such a fate. It was true that their family wasn't well liked, words such as two-clan, and cross breed had followed her throughout her childhood. Play yard beatings had come hand in hand although the girl was slightly thankful for them. There was a reason she was the fastest cub there was.

But she wasn't fast enough.

The other tom approached eyeing the young girl. "So are we going to kill her now?" He said to his companion. "Or shell we have some fun with her first?" The girl wondered what they where talking about.

The guard moved forward, keeping the girl at an arms length. "You have a play if you like," the guard answered, "but this is the closest I come to touching this filth." The girl's fear heighted as she began to understand.

The other tom stepped forward, running his hand gently over the girl's cheek. Now close up the girl noticed he looked a lot like her mother. His fur was a plain white gray and almost devoid of spots, save for a few on his nose. His hair, much like the mother's and the girl's was long and flowing, reaching the waist with ease. The man's hand travelled down her chest. "She's pretty," the tom said, "I'm surprised that that Tara of yours was able to produce such a thing."

The girl felt the guard's hand tighten as the tom's hand reach her thigh. "Considering he mated with that Che whore of yours," The guard shot back, "Yes it is surprising." Although young, the girl understood where this was going and focused, taking her mind off the tom's hand. She would have one chance if it came and she'd need to be ready.

The tom's hand stopped, the tips of the fingers just starting to travel underneath the girl's nightgown. "What did you say about Che?" The man took his hand off the girl and bought it up in a fist. "Che was a beautiful and caring sister, " He growled, "until that filth Tara twisted her mind and stole her." The front door was still open but now she considered it was a bad idea. Once out the front, there was no where to go, she would be caught easily and then…

'Stole her!" The guard lowed the girl and glared into the tom's eyes. "That bitch used her charms to entice Tara into something he didn't want." The back door, if the girl could move she would have gasped, it backed onto the woods she'd be safe there.

"Don't you dare insult her!" The tom's clenched paw shot towards the guard as fast as the girl could blink. The guard dropped her and tried to defend. What happened after that the girl wasn't concerned with. She shot down the hall and grabbed at the handle and flung the door open as a shout came form the front.

The toms had noticed her absence.

Mud and grass squished in her paws and rain pelted her nightgown leaving it soaked though. The girl ignored them and jump quickly into the trees as the two toms followed in pursuit. Without a break in her stride the girl leaped to another branch, then another, zigzagging her way further up and further in. A cheetah's agility was second only to a wildcat's but, unlike a wildcat's, it decrease with age. As the girl travelled further in the noise of the toms failed as they tried in vain to find and catch her.

But they weren't the real danger know.

The girl had only ever entered the woods once before and gotten lost almost immediately. She'd wounded around in vain, to impatient to wait for help, until her father found her two days later, half starved and lacking the energy to even cry. The girl had known the wood would ensure her safety but, as her short stamina bought her to a stop, she realized it might also ensure her death. She stopped on a high branch, her small chest pumping heavily. Her parent's, tears welled at the thought, where dead. She was cut over, her only piece of clothing had almost been ripped to shreds and, she glanced around, she was certainly lost and, her vision blurred, about to collapse.

But she was alive.

Despite everything, it bought a smile to the girl's face as she lay down gently. Things were still dire, but the situation could wait, the girl's eyes shut, until tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

Still unsure about this story, so I'm keeping the chapters short.

The girl woke to the stopping rain.

She had slept deeply the entire night and most of the day, her mind only emerging in the late afternoon. But it still slumber in a half-sleep, the type one gets after if the day before was tiring. Awake enough to know ones surroundings but not enough to care, unless there is a sudden changed. The girl had slumber, the gentle petting of rain against her face keeping her there. Until it stopped.

The girl opened her eyes and observed her surroundings: the wood, green and lush, that seemed to stretch on forever. She was high up on a strong solid branch with the wood's floor barely visible below her. So different from her bedroom that it took the girl a moment to remember what had happened. When she did she wished that she hadn't.

The shouts and bangs down stairs.

Her parents. Armed running into her room.

Her door slamming shut.

Her door slamming open.

The tom slitting her mother's throat as she told her to run.

The tom stabbing her father as she made for the door.

The knife. The guard. The hand. The wood.

Each memory hit her like a brick, tears, like the recent rain flowed down her cheeks as the girl curled up and cried. Later she would ask why? What had her parents done to deserve it? What had she done? Fortunately for the girl, this would be in the presence of someone who could answer, but we get ahead of ourselves. For now, all the girl felt was pain and the only question she had was how to get rid of it.

The sun was low in the sky by the time the girl ran out of tears to shed. She breathed deeply trying to push passed the pain and think of what to do. She couldn't stay in the wood, her father had told her enough for her to know that. She needed to get out, but which way? The girl looked around, the branched to her right looked familiar, and without a second thought she jumped.

The sun dipped deeper and the visibility lessoned as the girl hopped from vaguely familiar branch to 'fells right' branch. Any cat, any animal for that matter with at least some brains or patience knows that its best to wait till morning rather than travel through a wood at night. The girl had brains, but patience? The girl had none.

The night grew darker as the girl continued on, in her heart it was pointless, that it was better to wait but she wanted out, she wanted out now. She continued as the night begun and the wood became almost black. Now an again she'd find a high tree that could support her and climb it. She'd look out over the woods for some signs of life. She'd find none in the dark and continue on. Her impatience wouldn't let her wait till sunrise, when she would be able to see for miles, but that is the vice of a child, impatience, and has cost many there lives. It would have cost the girl's two had not the Omens been kind.

* * *

The girl stopped on a three branch panting heavily and barely controlled. She vaguely wondered if this branch was the same one she'd slept on the first night, four nights ago. The first night had clearly taken her deeper into the wood, so that by sunrise, even from a viewpoint she couldn't she anything but trees. The next three days she'd tried in vain to find any sign of intelligent life, but nothing.

The girl lent against the tree trunk and slid down to a set. As the days had worn on, she'd gotten slower, weaker and required more rest. Her stomach no longer growled in hunger, but her mouth was still thirsty. She remembered the second night, how it had rained and she'd been able to drink from the puddles, a beautiful memory. Moving her aching back and neck she looked down at her self, scabs, cuts and burses covered her entire body. She was able to see the whole of it, thanks to the woods ripping her nightgown to shreds. She'd fashioned the remains into a makeshift skirt for all the good…is that a cat?

The girl scampered to the edge of the tree and looked over, it was! A pitch-black female wildcat was gentle walking around the clearing below her. In the decaying light the girl could see a small one cat camp set up. The girl's mouth watered, a camp meant water, a camp meant food, a camp meant clothes. The girl gently dropped to the floor, all the while observing the owner. She wondered briefly if she'd give her help if she asked before dismissing it, she didn't have to steal. But the size of the camp said the owner of it had little to part with, to little for a thirsty, starving and semi-naked girl.

The girl watched as the owner dug at the grass to form a fire pit. Now was her chance, the owners pack was by the fly, near the clearings edge, she wouldn't see her. As quickly and as quietly as she could the girl made her way towards the pack. The owner continued to work; clearly the girl had not been spotted. Crouching down the girl entered the clearing and examined the pack. A water pouch on the side immediately caught her eyes. The girl unhooked and feeling in was half full she open it. The liquid running down her throat was the greatest feeling the girl had ever felt. Her thirst dissipated and her neck cooled, until something cooler touched it, something sharp.

"I have meet many attempting robbers." Came a voice, the voice was soft and calm, but it had a harshness to it that made the girl's blood chill. "But I don't think any of them where quiet so dumb or impatient to try and rob me during daylight.


End file.
